THE Parkes Boars fell agonisingly short of a win against the heavily fancied Mudgee Wombats in their first game of the New Holland Cup first grade on Saturday afternoon.
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The game went right down to the final whistle with the Boars pushing towards the Wombat's try line in the dying moments, but in the end the weight of possession the Wombats had the whole game secured them the win.
Captain/coach Josh Miles was relieved with the final score, and happy with a number of aspects of the game that the club would look to carry on with as the season progresses.
"We probably had only 20 percent of the ball all game so to lose by two points is a huge positive.
"The game was a little stop/start and frustrating at times with a lot of set pieces and we will need to work on our scrums at training this week," said Miles.
Dan Ryan will be back for the Boars next week and will add a lot of experience into a pack that was completely monstered by the Wombats on a few occasions, particularly when the Boars scrum was forced to defend their own goal line.
Despite very limited opportunities, the Boars back line looked dangerous every time they were given even just a little bit of space by the Wombats defence.
The English trio of Miles, Luke Bevan and Curtis Davies were constantly probing and poking holes in the Mudgee line, showing a clean set of heels on a number of occasions and proving the Boars open, running rugby style is definitely going to cause a few headaches this season.
Check Friday's paper for a wrap-up of the ladies and second grade matches.
Mudgee Wombats 20 (Oscar Faulkner 2, Jason Brown, Lachie Winstone tries) defeated Parkes Boars 18 (Curtis Davies, Rusi Lawanikula tries; Luke Bevan 3 goals).
